Classroom Freebies. Easter Egg Showdown Fun. Easter egg activities aren't just for little ones! You might not take older kids on an Easter egg hunt, but you can bring colorful plastic eggs into the classroom and jazz up any review activity using this Easter Egg Showdown freebie! Showdown is a cooperative learning activity in which students work first alone, and then with a team, to solve problems or answer questions on task cards. Easter Egg Showdown is a variation in which the task cards are tucked inside plastic Easter eggs. Students select an egg, open it, read the problem or task, and everyone on the team writes a response. In the final step, team members compare and discuss their answers. In this example, the task cards contain sentences, and students have to identify the subject and the predicate of each sentence. The entire Easter Egg Showdown freebie packet includes teacher directions, student directions, the Subject and Predicate activity shown, a division activity, and blank templates to create your own task cards.
Cutting Up :-) In the past year we have both introduced the Math Journal into our Guided Math program. This has been a great and innovative way for students to communicate their math knowledge. However, we both found the same thing; the students were only using a small part of the page, and we felt most of the journal was going to waste. So we decided we wanted to find a way to cut the journals in half! We made a few phone calls, and got a lot of laughs on the other end. Most of the big hardware stores told us no over the phone. We called a printing store and they would do it, but charge $1.50 a cut. Feeling discouraged, we went to the stores in person, composition notebooks in hand. Ta-Da! Each child now has a manageable sized notebook. Our cart full! While we were there we stopped by the paint department. All-in-all a successful trip! Fame, Stardom, and a freebie unit! Hey friends! What a great and BUSY week!
I am currently glued to the TV, taking in all the weather updates on the news. School dismissed early due to severe weather and tornadoes. That's right...crazy winds, tennis ball sized hail, and some funky lightening. I'm currently freaking out! We are NOT supposed to have stuff like this in TN, we are surrounded by mountains which I thought protected us. Guess not. Anways...I wanted to thank everyone for their encouraging responses the other day regarding my Donor's Choose post.
Back to the week. Afterwards, I was interviewed as well as one of my students. Clearly though, the fame and stardom has gone to her head. You can view the video by clicking the Dr. Here are a few fun pictures from our week. We also made anchor charts, read books, did workstations, and all sorts of other fun activities. Anyways...time to batton down the hatches. Kindergarten / great use of photo blocks...also can use for math...word families....anything! Mother's Day. First, I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who bought from my TpT store during the big sale.
I really appreciate it and I hope you found something useful. As a small thank you, I put together some activities I did with my class this week while we read Little Bear. You can download them {here.}We have a class set of books so we read one story a day and then I picked out a skill I wanted to review. Here is an example of a flow map my students completed for Birthday Soup. My students were SOOO excited to give their moms the If You Give A Mom a Muffin booklets that I doubt many will be able to wait until tomorrow.
I already had one sweet mom email me a thank you. This cutie said her mom was just waking up so she only has one eye open. And a few knew just what their mom's pillowcase looked like so they HAD to match it.. I hope you had a lovely Teacher Appreciation Week. Thank you for being an awesome teacher for me! Back By Popular Demand: Roll A Word Game. Many of you asked me for the actual cards that you see in these cubes so I am giving them to you as a gift. I only ask that you leave a comment and follow me. I hope they are helpful. You can order the cubes directly from Amazon. They are wonderful to have in the classroom for many concepts. Common Core Assessments For Kindergarten. The Common Core Standards present learning goals for students across the United States.
They represent some of the highest standards found in the nation. Furthermore, they are benchmarked to international standards. The Common Core Standards provide clear goals for student learning, a veritable roadmap to success. The standards not only help teachers ensure that students attain the skills and knowledge necessary for educational success, but they also help parents and students set clear and realistic goals. The Common Core Standards do not dictate teaching methods or materials, therefore assessment is crucial to determining what skills and information a student needs. Our assessment documents are designed for assessing the common core standards in kindergarten.
With the adoption of the Common Core Standards, these assessment meets a critical need. Please check them out today at our online stores. Kindergarten Rhode. I could not possibly begin talking about Math in my classroom without mentioning two of the best Math Resources ever written! Although my specialty is Math, I still think Elementary and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally by John A. Van De Walle, Karen S. Karp, and Jennifer M. Bay-Williams is a must have resource. I go to it whenever I have a question about how to teach a concept with my students.
I have corrected many misconceptions as well as avoided problems by going to this book before teaching the big ideas with my students. My new favorite, which has quickly joined the Van de Walle book is Math Work Stations: Independent Learning You Can Count On, K-2 by Debbie Diller. I have created Missing-Part Cards to go with Activity 8.19 in the Van de Walle book. 3D Shapes. Thanks so much to each of you who commented on my last post about needing help with ideas for 3D shapes.
I am going to try to implement lots of them this week. I also found a poem and made it a little more kinder friendly. I'll probably add it to our Reading Binders and try to recite it the rest of the week. Click on the picture below to download a copy for yourself. WARNING--Do not read the following statement if we're teetering on the edge of friendship, because I promise this will automatically put me in frenemy status for unnecessary grossness!
On a somewhat unrelated note, several people mentioned using toilet paper tubes as a match for cylinders and I can't get a little scenario out of my head. I can't remember who said this, but I was in a workshop and the presenter mentioned not asking for students to bring in toilet paper rolls anymore. I know you wish I wouldn't have mentioned that, but now you'll have the same visual so now I can get it out of my head and put it into yours. Mrs. Shehan's Full Day Kindergarten - April. I'm a little "green" in my own life, so I enjoy this opportunity to spread this knowledge a bit with my students. Below are a few of my favorite read-alouds during this month. We begin our study with Dr. Jean's "Earth Day" song from her cd. I've made a teacher big book version to go along with it. I've also created the student version to use as an emergent reader.
Below is a worksheet I made for the students to write all they learned about Earth Day after our unit. After every child completes the page, I bind them as a class book and add a title page. Is a book I remember as a child (it was written in 1956) but it's still available in most libraries. Once again, I like to compile all the pages the children complete into a class book.
Door Decoration Be sure to print it out on legal size paper. Play and Learn with Dana. Pocket Full of Kinders! Reading Games. FREE Reading Games! Jenna Rayburn from SpeechRoomNews.blogspot.com, has a real talent for creating fun reading games and wanted to share them with our readers. Our students really enjoy them so check them out below. Thanks for sharing Jenna! Cars Puzzles (Basic Code Sentences) Students pick one Cars character (they love Cars!). Place the appropriate puzzle strips in a pile face down. Students take turns picking one sentence strip. Cars Uno (Advanced Code) Two great things come together in this game: Cars and Uno. Going to the Movies (Basic Code Sentences) Get your popcorn ready! Flower Long Vowel Game (Advanced Code)This reading activity offers a perfect way to practice high frequency words organized by vowel sound and spelling patterns. Flip It Down (Advanced Code) Another great reading activity for practicing reading decoding skills.
Build A Fence Long Vowel Game (Advanced Code) Directions included. Flip It Down (Basic Code) This game is great for centers. Sharing Kindergarten. Mental Math Addition Strategies. I think that Mental Math is the greatest way of teaching math facts because it teaches automaticity which means that kids are performing equations quickly and efficiently. Additionally, when you take the time to teach students a variety of mental math strategies, you are equipping them with the skills that they need to develop their own strategies and solve more complex math equations. When I first released the Mental Math Strategy Collection, I had a few people asking about which order the units should be taught in. To answer this question, I have created the You Tube video below. The video briefly explains each of the addition strategies that I’ve included in the collection, the order that I recommend teaching them in as well as some tips for managing your time when teaching.
If you have purchased any or all of my mental math units, this video is definitely worth watching! Here is a brief description of each strategy. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The Cookie Sheet Challenge! | Make, Take & Teach. It all started with a cookie sheet. I was observing a student in a kindergarten classroom during literacy center time and in one of the centers the teacher placed magnetic letters on a cookie sheet and the students made words with the letters. Clever– I’ve seen cookie sheets on Pinterest before and really hadn’t paid much attention. After leaving the classroom I wondered how many activities can I come up with using a simple cookie sheet. So my weekend started with a trip to our Habitat for Humanity Restore- hum, no cookie sheets.
No luck at Goodwill and no luck at the Salvation Army. Couldn’t believe it. So I traveled over to Walmart and they had cookie sheets for only 88 cents! First use of my newly painted cookie sheet: ABC Order. Click the link to download a template of upper and lowercase letter templates. Second use of my newly painted cookie sheet: A Rhyming Activity. Click the link to download two rhyming templates with pictures. Still a lot of paint left in my paint can! The Go To Teacher: March Madness.
March Madness has something to do with basketball, right?? It makes me think of the countdown till spring break and how quickly the days pass after it. I told someone today that being in my class was like heaven on earth. They are so wonderful, I can't even think about June when they will leave me for grander horizons. I need it all to slow down! Saw this wonderful idea on Pinterest and knew I had to use it: I couldn't find the original person that uploaded it but kudos to whoever you are :) Mine is a bit simple but you could print it on colored paper.
Writing Goals, Traits I've been working on a guided reading instruction pack. The pack I created has a checklist of materials needed, helpful hints about grouping students, a chart to schedule time for each group, running record forms, ways to analyze a running record, daily note page for each group, record log for individuals, and a format to follow when working with students.
Here are pictures from my classroom that explain my set up: Counting. We have had a busy month learning all about numbers, shapes, and coins! Most of The Marchese Clowns can... We practice math all day....starting with the calendar! During our "Math Lesson" time we also have Math Stations...t he students love Math Stations!
Look what we have been doing the last few weeks! We can count objects to 20....This is a "large tower" with than 20. We are counting by 5s and 10s to 100...our sock clothesline goes to 27 so far... This game is called Beat you to 20. The students love to compare numbers... the student with the highest numbered card gets to keep the cards. A few of our SHAPE ROBOTS! And we know all the shapes we used to make them! Can you find a rhombus? Can you find a trapezoid or a hexagon? More shape fun with the polydrons..... We have just started learning about money. This poem helps us remember how much each coin is worth... This game is very popular in Math Stations....we have learned to trade five pennies for a nickel!
Beat you to 15 cents! Community Helpers Literacy Centers. I don't know how else to start this but, Oh. My. Goodness! Our centers this week have been So. Much. Fun! I was so excited to introduce them to my little kinder friends...I think these are the most fun centers we've done, and of course so much learning is happening all at the same time! Ending sounds we loved the sight word reflection game last week, that we did it again...with a different theme Okay, so they have to get a trash ball un-wad it (is that a word?) We are chefs flippin' cookies to read sight words... I thought this would be too easy for my kiddos, but it was challenging for a few of them...they had to really pay attention to the way letters are formed and where they sit on the line...great practice! Okay, so ready, set, comment! Happy Valentine's Day! Growing Kinders. Fish Math with Dr. Seuss. Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations.
Kindergarten Kindergarten: File Folder Games.